


Family of Mine

by Megane



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: An AU of an AU (or a Fix-It), Cooking, Family, Family Feels, Food, Friendship/Love, Humour, I Dunno; You Tell Me, Male Friendship, Meeting the Parents, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-16
Updated: 2018-11-16
Packaged: 2019-08-24 08:02:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,099
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16636028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Megane/pseuds/Megane
Summary: Prompto and Ignis had never met Gladio's mother. Well, he decided to change that.





	Family of Mine

     “Just… _don’t_ freak out when you meet her,” Gladio said as they got out of the car.

     “How can we not?” Prompto undid his seatbelt. “This is the first time we’re properly meeting her.”

     “ _I’ve_ already met her,” Noctis said plainly. “It’s just you and Ignis.”

     “First meeting solidarity,” Prompto replied dramatically. He brought his hands over his heart and drew up to his tiptoes. Ignis came to Prompto’s side and placed a hand on his friend’s back.

     “Well, at least you won’t get to know her alone,” he said.

     Noctis pointed at Gladio with his thumb. “Just as a heads up. He looks just like her.”

     Gladio smiled to his right. “I’m a spittin’ image.”

     Prompto studied Gladio’s face before nodding and looking straight ahead to the garage. “Okay. I think I’m ready.”

     “We’ll see.”

Gladio took the lead and walked to the garage door. He slid open the small module on the wall and entered the passcode on the keypad. The garage vibrated at first before lifting up. Gladio didn’t wait for very long. When the door was halfway, he ducked underneath and walked to the interior door. He unlocked it with his house key before poking his head in.

     “Ma! You here?”

     “What!” came the reply from upstairs.

     Gladio chuckled and looked to his friends. He slid a hand up to the garage door switch and pressed it down. “Come on in.”

The four of them entered. Gladio was the one who closed the door, and as he did, a woman appeared at the top of the stairs. Her hair was wild, curly, and a deep dark brown. She stared down at her son and his friends before doing a second take. A smile settled on her lips. She looked clever and wicked as she walked down the stairs. She had half her uniform on from the hips down. Above the waist, she was wearing a dark grey sleeveless shirt and a golden band around her right bicep.

     “Lil’ Prince Noctis. Look at you!”

     “Good to see you again,” Noctis said kindly.

     As she walked closer, Gladio intercepted and flicked his finger against the gold band. “Where’d you get this?”

     His mother scoffed, looked at her arm, and then looked at him. “Mind your business,” she said playfully.

     Gladio smirked and shrugged up his shoulders. “Don’t wanna.”

     “You’re lucky your friends are here.”

     “By all means,” Ignis said, taking a step forward diplomatically, “if you need to teach him a lesson, don’t hold back on our account.”

     “Yeah. It’d be a nice change of pace,” Noctis added.

     “One hundred percent supportive,” said Prompto.

     Gladio gave them all a comical look of disgust. “You guys are traitors.”

     “Not at all,” Ignis replied. He brought out a hand. “My name is Ignis.”

     “Kasimira,” Gladio’s mother introduced. She took his hand in a strong grip and cupped her other hand on top of their gripped ones.

     When they drew away, Prompto swung forward and brought out a hand. “Prompto.”

     “ _Ky-ute,_ ” Kasimira teased as she shook his hand as well. She turned her attention over towards Noctis and squinted at him in confusion.

     “Who are you again?”

     “Oh, I dunno. I hear some people calling me a crowned prince or something.”

     “Nah, you look too scraggly for a title like that.”

Kasimira closed the space between them and ruffled his hair. Noctis hugged her, which came as a surprise to everyone, and Kasimira hugged him back with the same tightness. He rested his head on her chest and heard her laughing.

     “Good to see you, kiddo. How ya been?”

     “Same old, same old.”

     “That right?”

They pulled apart, and Kasimira curled a finger under Noctis’ chin, admiring him like he was her own son. She ruffled his hair again and then looked to everyone else.

     “I’m assuming Gladio came all this way to show off his _fantastic_ mother,” she said, flicking her wild hair which cascaded down her back. She turned sideways, so she was hip to hip with Noctis with an arm around his shoulders.

     Gladio hummed in the negative. “I just wanted to show them the woman who’s been strong arming me all these years.”

     “I’ll show you a strong arm, kid. You ain’t seen nothing yet.”

     Prompto piped up at this point. “So you’ve been training Gladio?”

     “He’s learned all his best moves from me.”

     “A shame he’s been holding out,” Ignis said, slowly crossing his arms. “We’ve been denied a great pleasure.”

     Kasimira gave Ignis an up and down look before nodding. “I think I like you.”

     “What about me?” Noctis joked.

     “You know, for some reason, I just keep forgetting who you are.”

     “Aw, man.” Noctis laughed.

     Kasimira regarded all four of them. “I was just about to head out and get your sister. We were going to go get some chow.”

     “If you don’t mind,” Ignis started. Everyone brightened up, which made Kasimira curious. “I’d like to do the honour of cooking for all of us.”

     “We haven’t eaten yet,” Gladio reported.

     “Busy, busy guys,” Prompto added, placing his hands behind his head.

     Kasimira reached up a hand and flicked Gladio’s nose. Or at least she tried. He dodged out of the way with a sudden blink. “We’ll talk about that later. But sure thing. We’ve got a few things you can toss together.”

     “I’ll do my best.”

     “What should we do?” Prompto looked to Gladio for an answer.

“Go get your guitar,” Kasimira offered, smacking Gladio on the arm before pointing her thumb towards the upper floor. “It’s upstairs.”

     “Dinner _and_ a show,” Noctis said.

     Prompto knocked his shoulder against Noctis, inadvertently bumping him against the older Amicitia. “I think I’m swooning.”

     “Just for that I’m going to play the worse song I can think of,” Gladio said as he turned towards the stairs. Kasimira followed after him. “Hope you all like Pop Goes the Weasel.”

     Kasimira chuckled. “Oh boy.”

Before she was too far out of reach, she lifted up a hand and pinched Noctis’ cheek. He shrunk away from her but halfheartedly. Prompto waited until the two Amicitias were out of earshot before walking with Noctis towards the kitchen.

     “I didn’t know you were so close with his mom.”

     “We go way back,” Noctis said playfully. He let out a sigh. “She used to watch me when I was really, really little,” he said quietly. “When mom got sick.”

     “Oh.” Prompto stilled and looked at Noctis sadly. “Sorry, I- I didn’t know.”

     “It’s okay.” The two sat down. “Mom got sick a lot, but those two were pretty friendly.” Noctis offered up a smile. “She and my dad are really close, though. Like best friends.”

     “And yet, I’ve never seen hide nor tail of her,” Ignis said. One of the dining chairs had his jacket thrown over the back.

     Noctis sat back. “It’s like you said. There are some things you just can’t really talk about, you know.”

     After a pause, Ignis said, “I know.” He opened up the fridge and took stock of the available ingredients. He had a few options in mind, but he wasn't entirely sure what to make. “Now, I’m going to need you two to take a vote on what I should cook. Here are the options.”

It took a couple of minutes of verbal battle for Prompto and Noctis to decide. They were torn between sauteed blackfish with potatoes and gravy or Ignis’ famous seven layer casserole with the mint garnish. After describing what they both _really_ desired for a meal, they settled on the on a thick, spicy seafood stew served with dirty rice. Ignis nodded and began removing his gloves. Just as Ignis began taking ingredients out, both Gladio and Kasimira came downstairs. Gladio had his guitar in hand, and now, Kasimira was wearing plain black cargo pants with a white and black plaid shirt tied around her waist. 

She pulled her hair back, fully exposing the shaved sides. Her pierced ears immediately caught Prompto’s attention, but more than that, what he and Ignis took note of were their similarities. Noctis and Gladio weren't kidding. He really was the spitting image of his mom. The two Amicitias were engrossed in a conversation, which was nearly finished by the time they drew close.

     “Yeah? That’s why you look like that.”

     “Shove off.”

Kasimira punched Gladio in his shoulder before sucking on her teeth.

     “Fucker,” she muttered under her breath. She grinned at him before lifting her chin up towards his friends. “Be back in a minute, boys. Behave.”

     “Yes, ma’am,” Noctis said.

Gladio took the chair with Ignis’ jacket on it as his mother stepped out the front door. He plucked experimentally at his guitar before playing a steady tune. Prompto crossed his arms on the table and leaned towards Gladio.

     “Gladdy... How old’s your mom?”

     Gladio gave a vague shrug. “She’s, like, in her fifties?”

     “Whoa! Seriously?!” Prompto placed his hands flat on the table before sitting back. “Wow… She looks fantastic.”

     “You thinkin’ about hitting on my mom?”

The blush that took over Prompto’s face was amazing. It was so immediate that Noctis couldn’t help but laugh. One part sympathy, one part amused as hell. He stood up and reached over the table to cup his friend’s face.

     “Oh man! I've never seen you do that before.” He turned Prompto’s face towards Ignis. “‘Ey, Ignis. Look at this.”

Ignis had his head tilted down as he was washing his hands, but he lifted his eyes up to look at his friends over his frames. He let out a grunt before shaking his head sympathetically.

     “Poor thing.”

Gladio merely laughed at the sight. It was a loud and hearty sound. He clapped a hand on the table; the other one went to his stomach.

     “Ooh. Oh man. Okay, I’m sorry about that one, but damn _,_ was it worth it.”

Noctis squished Prompto’s cheeks between his hands until he was batted off. He gave a raspy laugh, and the three of them settled down long enough, shooting the shit and listening to play his guitar. As promised, he did play a horrendously amateur version of Pop Goes the Weasel. He was interrupted, though, by a message on his phone. Shortly after he replied, the house phone rang. He picked it up before heading out onto the back porch.

Ignis left the kitchen while the stew was cooking. He joined the two at the table, standing at one of the ends but not taking a chair. The three of them looked at Gladio’s back, admiring him in the setting sunlight. Prompto looked between Noctis and Ignis quietly. Noctis had a calm smile on his face, but then he turned forward again to look at the other two. Ignis brought his gaze from Noctis to Prompto, and then with a secretive smile, he pulled away from the table.

It was a peaceful moment. None of them said anything, not really needing to.

When Gladio returned, he settled down once again in his chair. “Dad says hi,” was all he said before they immediately jumped back into their usual routine.

Their conversation came to an immediate stop when keys jingled loudly at the front door. Iris opened the door, and there was a bright smile on her face.

     “Gladdy!”

     “Hey, Dafy.”

     Noctis pulled a face. “Daffy?”

Gladio didn’t reply to him and instead kept an eye on his sister, who looked behind her before looking back into the house.

     “I’ll be right back,” she said before disappearing outside.

When she came back, she had little boxes in her hand. Gladio recognised those boxes. They were take away gifts from a nearby bakery. He had been meaning to take the guys there for awhile, but in everything they had been doing, it just got lost. Iris shot a smile over to him before politely budging herself behind Ignis to put the boxes in the refrigerator. Iris disappeared back outside, and it was possible to hear Iris and Kasimira talking loudly at one another, though the words were lost.

     “How much longer, Iggy?” Gladio asked.

     “Not too much. We’ll be ready to serve once they come inside.”

     Prompto pushed up in his seat, pressing his weight down onto his arms on the table. He lifted his chin as if trying to look around Ignis. “I wonder what Iris brought.”

     “Good question,” Noctis said.

     Gladio crossed his arms with a smile and closed his eyes. “Yeah, I wonder.”

     “That means you know,” Prompto said.

     “Wouldn’t say that.”

     “I would.” Noctis’ voice was closer; the heat of his body was right near Gladio’s left arm. “You’ve got your ‘I know something’ smile.”

     “Don’t know nothin’.” Gladio opened his eyes and stared at the prince through his long, beautiful lashes. “Don’t you say anything.”

     Noctis smiled smugly at him. “Wasn’t going to say anything.”

     “Sure you weren’t.”

The garage door vibrated open once again, and the sound of Kasimira’s car cruising in soon followed. The car shut off. Iris was once again the first person through the door. Gladio looked over his right shoulder.

     “Hey, Daf. You left the front door open.”

     “Shoot. I’ll get it.” Iris hurried over from the door, and she gave Noctis a quick hug. “Good to see you, Noct.”

     “You too.” Noctis gave an easy smile to her.

     Prompto leaned back in his seat. “Looks like Noct’s the man of the hour. What’re we, chopped liver?”

     “Augh, gross.” Noctis stuck out his tongue.

     “I think it’s fine,” Gladio replied.

     Noctis looked at his friend and gave him a searching look. From his eyes to his muscles and back again. “That’s why you look like this.”

     “Is that a compliment?”

     “Or an insult?” Ignis chimed in, clearly amused.

     Noctis shrugged up both arms and laced his fingers together over his lap. “Dunno. You figure it out.”

Prompto scoffed a laugh before tilting his head towards the garage door as Kasimira was entering.

     “You boys still here?” She smelt the air and hummed. “Oh, this smells amazing.”

     “And it’s time to eat,” Ignis announced.

     “I’ll help.” Iris popped into the kitchen to help Ignis with the plates and everything.

Kasimira took a seat at one end of the table closest to the garage door. It didn’t take long before Ignis and Iris had the table set for everyone. Iris, without hesitation, plopped herself down to Noctis’ left. It was the way she did it that made Kasimira’s brows go up. She had her hands laced together in front of her mouth with her elbows on either side of her bowl. She shot a look over to Gladio, who looked at her curiously. She gave a little wiggle in her chair before subtly nodding her head towards Iris. Gladio looked to his left from the corner of his eyes and mouthed _Oh_. He pursed his lips together and nodded. Kasimira whistled.

     Iris looked at her mom. “What are you doing?”

     Kasimira smiled. “Nothing.” She sat up properly and looked over to Ignis. “I’m sorry; I’m being rude. Should we eat?”

     “Please.”

     Kasimira started but then hesitated. “I’ll get us all something to drink. Get started without me.”

She placed a hand on her children’s heads as she passed, this time skipping over Noctis as she did. She made a couple of trips for the drinks, but when she sat down again, she dug her spoon into Ignis’ dish. She groaned at the fantastic taste and gave him an OK sign with her left hand.

     “This is _amazing_ ,” she said.

     “Ignis could be a prized chef,” Gladio bragged.

     “Perhaps in another life,” Ignis said. “There’s much to learn in culinary, and I’m afraid I don’t have much time for such studies.” Before the mood could sink, he placed his spoon down and looked over to Noctis. “Besides, who would watch this one if I were to do such a thing?”

     “Oh, I’ve got ‘im,” Prompto said.

     “I think that’d be worse if he were alone,” Iris teased.

     Kasimira laughed. “And I know him. You two’ll probably just paint the town red.”

     “Red’s a little outdated,” Prompto assured. “Too harsh in this kind of city. I’m thinking, with the colour palette, we could do awesome with some green or even a deep purple.”

     Noctis rolled his eyes and looked over towards Kasimira. “Ignore him. Photography.”

     “Oh, wait. I wanna know more.”

     “Ma, don’t. You’ll set him off.”

     “Hush before I bring out the baby photos.”

     Iris smiled at her brother. “Ooh, that’d be cute.”

     “You too, Lady Screamer. Couldn’t get this one to talk for anything in her first few months.”

     “Try _year,_ ” Gladio said with a wince.

     Iris placed a hand on her chest. “I needed to be heard.”

     “‘m pretty sure they heard you in Altissia,” Kasimira said before eating more of her food. She looked to Prompto again. “Now then, photography?”

Prompto was all about this conversation. Through the meal, he managed to talk about his craft with unbridled enthusiasm. Once everyone was finished, Gladio picked up the dishes to clean. Kasimira reached under the table to pat her daughter on the knee. She gave the tiniest nod, and Iris got up to get the boxes out of the fridge.

     After talking extensively, Prompto apologised nervously. “Oh, it’s okay. I love hearing about it. Plus, you weren’t alone, you know. Two way street,” Kasimira told him.

     He gave a relieved smile before sitting up. “Hey, is it okay if I use your bathroom?”

     “There’s one upstairs second door on your right.”

     “Thanks.” As Prompto got up, so did Noctis. “Dude, we’re not sharing.”

     “I gotta go too,” Noctis griped. “And I’m not waiting for you to stop messing with your hair in there.”

     “I would never,” Prompto said as they walked towards the stairs. “We’re guests.”

     “Oh yeah, but everywhere else, you’re Mr. ‘Ten More Minutes.’”

     “A guy’s gotta look good,” was the last thing Kasimira clearly heard. She looked over towards Ignis. “Thank you again, seriously. That was fantastic.”

     “Thank you.”

     “Where’d you learn?”

     “I wasn’t really taught, so to say. It was something I picked up here and there. The kitchen staff at the Citadel gave me some pointers, and it was… a valuable part of my training by Noctis’ side.”

     “Impressive.” She crossed her legs. “I appreciate your manners, but please don’t feel like you have to be too proper around me.” When Ignis lifted his chin up slightly, she added, “I know the whole song and dance, and I would rather you be comfortable in my home. If we’re somewhere else, then you can walk on eggshells.”

     Ignis chuckled softly. “I’ll do well to remember that. Thank you, my Lady.”

     Kasimira moved a hand in front of her face in a wave. “In one ear, out the other,” she said with a joke. She smiled at him. “In time, though. I hope you’ll feel free to call me Kas.”

     “Just not in front of my father,” Gladio said, pulling away from his conversation with his sister.

     Kasimira scoffed. "Grumpy man."

Iris finally brought the desserts out and set them in a line in the center of the table. She took her seat once again. When Prompto and Noctis returned, they cooed at the boxes. Gladio walked over to the table again. He took the mint green one with a blue ribbon and slid it over towards Noctis.

     “Knowing you, I know you’ll like this one.”

     “You sure about that?”

     “Trust me.” Gladio sat down. “This place can appeal to even the most _very_ specific tastes.”

     “That’s a kind way to say ‘picky eater,’” Ignis replied coolly.

     “Shut uuup,” Noctis rasped.

     Kasimira laughed. “My boy and his friends.” Gladio’s brows did a brief dance, though his face remained even. Thankfully, no one noticed. “Go ahead. Everybody, pick one.”

     “I’ll share with you, Ma,” Gladio said.

     “Oh, I was going to offer, but I guess I’ll take this one for myself,” Iris said as she drew a hot pink box with a lavender bow.

     “Just for that. I’m going to eat off you,” Kasimira said with a smirk. She poked the bow. “Is this the elder blossom?”

     “Yup.”

     “Hell yeah.”

     “S’like your mom’s one of us,” Noctis said with a laugh.

     "Tell me your next road trip, boys. I’ll be happy to tag along.”

     “I bet _she_ could push the car by herself,” Prompto said as he fiddled with the orange bow of his white box.

     “Probably wouldn’t have to. She might get under the damn thing to try to fix it herself,” Gladioo muttered.

     “Just to be clear, I used to be shit with cars,” she said, “but after having to fix my family’s truck so many times, I thought ‘Maybe this isn’t so bad’ and started fixing any vehicle I could come across.”

     “And then she worked with Cid for like a year.”

     “Don’t let her touch your car,” Iris said gravelly. “She’d probably do something wild like make the Regalia fly.”

     “Just for that, I’m eating _all_ of the elder blossoms.”

     “Nooo,” Iris whined.

Everyone at the table laughed. Ignis ran a finger around the dark red box, and then he undid the white ribbon. Everyone opened their boxes at the same time, revealing the different desserts: pies, tarts, and little cakes. Kasimira took the box from Iris and set it in front of herself. Iris protested, and Kasimira laughed. She placed the tart between the two of them once again.

The evening passed pleasantly through dessert. Partway through, Prompto lifted up his camera and offered to take a picture of everyone. Kasimira posed at the head of the table when Prompto had the camera set up. Iris pressed up against her as well. Prompto moved back to his chair and managed to make himself comfortable just as the timer went off.

Gladio looked around at his friends and smiled in content. He could easily spend numerous days like this with his family and friends.

     “Welp, I’d hate to be the one to tell you all this, but now that you’ve seen my face, I’d have to take you guys out.”

     “Well, they’re all friends of the prince, and one of them is, y’know, his advisor,” Iris said.

She shot her mother a smile. Kasimira stared at her daughter evenly for a long while. After she took in a deep breath, she changed her tune into a happy one.

     “So, should I make the guest room or are you all going to crash on the couch?”

     “We probably won’t stay over,” Gladio said.

     Kasimira leaned forward with the same smile and snarked, “Wasn’t asking you.”

     Noctis smirked. “I could crash.”

     “Sounds good, so long as you don’t mind.”

     “I guess we’re having a sleepover,” Gladio rolled his eyes.

     Kasimira looked to Noctis. “His Grace won’t get too upset with you being here, will he?”

     Noctis pulled his phone out of his pocket. “I’ll just make my rounds and let everyone know where I am.”

     “Solid. While you’re doing that, I’m going to borrow Iris for a while.”

     “Uh-oh. What’re you planning?”

     "I wanted to give you something.”

Kasimira guided Iris into the living room area. Prompto went through his camera, and Noctis pulled up a number on his phone. Gladio looked at everyone before asking,

     “So. What d’you think?”

     “She’s cool,” Noctis said.

     For that, Gladio nudged him in the elbow. “Wasn’t asking you.”

     “But seriously, she is!” Prompto said.

     Ignis nodded gently. “It’s easy to see where the apple fell from.”

     Gladio smiled proudly. “We still got some time to kill before she tries to rope you all into something like Kingsglaive training.”

     “I wonder how that is,” Prompto mused.

     “You wanna stick around?”

     “Could be interesting to watch him and Noct have their backsides soundly handed to them by a veteran.”

     Gladio raised a brow. “You should give it a shot.”

     Ignis met his gaze. “Is that a challenge?”

     Gladio shrugged. And soon enough, they were all standing. “We’ll be back!”

     “See ya!” Kasimira and Iris shouted back simultaneously.

The four of them exited through the garage together. The sun had almost completely set, and there were the dying fringes of light clinging to the horizon. Gladio watched as the others headed to the car. It wasn’t quite as fancy as the Regalia, but it was still a nice town car. Noctis perked up.

     “‘Ey. You with us?”

     Gladio huffed a laugh and exited the garage to close it with the keypad. “Yeah, I’m right here.” As the garage door closed, he took a seat in the back. “Alright. Let’s get moving.”

**Author's Note:**

> Just the kind of thing I had to write. I received some disheartening news today, so I just needed to get that out. If you're curious about who Kasimira is or where Iris' nickname "Dafy" comes from, you can read _[A Legacy I Leave for You](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15923630)_. Thanks again, y'all.


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